Jackie Skelly Gym Special Offer

oxygen_old

Hi

I got a leaflet this morning with a special offer on it to Join Jackie Skelly gym for €95 membership fee and then €650 annual fee. The leaflet says deal is only applicable till tomorrow. Is phoned them up and they said that the payment was all at once and not instalments and that the deal does end tomorrow. but there was a note of hesitancy in her voice,like it wasnt definite or something.

Does anyone know is the offer likely to end tomorrow? and is it a good gym? and would they take instalments?

Thanks

kstanl

oxygen wrote:

Hi

I got a leaflet this morning with a special offer on it to Join Jackie Skelly gym for €95 membership fee and then €650 annual fee. The leaflet says deal is only applicable till tomorrow. Is phoned them up and they said that the payment was all at once and not instalments and that the deal does end tomorrow. but there was a note of hesitancy in her voice,like it wasnt definite or something.

Does anyone know is the offer likely to end tomorrow? and is it a good gym? and would they take instalments?

Thanks

I was a member of Jacky Skelly on Clarendon Street for a year. They always had these "promotion about to end" offers but they ALWAYS continued. Sometimes for months after they were meant to end. So I wouldn't pay any mind to it.

€745... steep compared to Ben Dunne's €495. Go to Carlisle in Terenure or Westpoint in Blanch if it's at all handy and save yourself €250!

damnyanks

If its the one in town and you are in town daily (Work there as in) Then its quite handy. At least I found it so... then again I never looked for other gyms.

Ifo on the other case you are looking at other places then do that. I often wonder about hte bitch posts posted here on this forum aout gyms they seem tob be doien about places by other gyms. in any case that made no sense so in conclusion...

look around

kstanl

damnyanks wrote:

in any case that made no sense

You said it :eek:

oxygen_old

I went down there,while I was waiting for the tour I asked one receptionist how much was membership she said
= €65 joining fee and one payement of €600 or monthly installments of €65 (€780 ),I think for €180 I could scrape €600 together.
I then got the tour from the mngr (nice place) and at the end he said it cost
= €95 joining fee and one payement of €600 or monthly installments of €65
I told him the other girl said it was €65 and he said ok he would make it €65.

fiddlechick

Hi joined jackie skelly city centre on a special offer last November. It was only 100 joining and then 395 because of the refurbishments (which went on way after they said they would)
I didn't have the whole 495 cash with me the day I joined so I paid the 10 euro and set up a direct debit for the rest - for the 395.
I only realised recently that they were still taking the money from my account and I can't find my copy of the direct debit agreement (I know I sound like a bimbo - just one of those things - I never really thought about the gym when I reading my bank statement)
When I asked about it I was told that the offer only applied for paying the whole amount and not installments....even though that's what the receptionist told me at the time.
My housemate joined the same as me and was told the same thing and is in the same predictment.
I only joined JS cos it 495 I really had not intention of paying 65 euro a month for a year!
Anyone else find themselves in this situation?
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

eth0_

They should have a copy of the direct debit agreement you signed, ask to see it.

Guv

fiddlechick wrote:

Hi joined jackie skelly city centre on a special offer last November. It was only 100 joining and then 395 because of the refurbishments (which went on way after they said they would)
I didn't have the whole 495 cash with me the day I joined so I paid the 10 euro and set up a direct debit for the rest - for the 395.
I only realised recently that they were still taking the money from my account and I can't find my copy of the direct debit agreement (I know I sound like a bimbo - just one of those things - I never really thought about the gym when I reading my bank statement)
When I asked about it I was told that the offer only applied for paying the whole amount and not installments....even though that's what the receptionist told me at the time.
My housemate joined the same as me and was told the same thing and is in the same predictment.
I only joined JS cos it 495 I really had not intention of paying 65 euro a month for a year!
Anyone else find themselves in this situation?
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Classic company move. They will keep you on direct debit until you cancel in writing one month in advance. So important if at all possible to pay the full membership up front to avoid the dd hassle.

This is how so many gyms make money. 'You' might not use the gym atm but you think you will start next month and you want the option of being able to go even if you do not etc. etc.

peterl

Dont know much about j.skelly but I do know a little about selling.This is a standard variation of the "today only" sales tactic which itself is a variation of the "last one" ruse.
Urgency is created in the mind of the potential buyer by making him/her think they might miss out on a good deal if they wait.(by the way, this urgency is ALWAYS misplaced beacuse if the tactic works for us...as it invariably does..we'll use it again and again.
The original idea behind the tactic is to make it difficult for the buyer to shop around and to stop them from negotiating a lower price...because they think they're already getting a special (!) low price and beacuse the deal ends today/tomorrow they dont have time to compare our price with our competitors prices.

SBob

I was talking to s staff member i know in westwood and he told me that attendance at the gym would be only a single figure percentage of the actual membership of the gym, except in january with NY resolutions and all that..

This is what a lot of gyms rely on and so make no effort to get you coming back..

incisor71

SBob wrote:

I was talking to a staff member i know in westwood and he told me that attendance at the gym would be only a single figure percentage of the actual membership of the gym, except in january with NY resolutions and all that..

This is what a lot of gyms rely on and so make no effort to get you coming back..

The personal trainer I go to shared an almost identical observation with me. He worked in the Greenhills Gym some years back and, on one new year's day, enthusiastic new members signed up to memberships with a total value exceeding IR£21,000. Most of those folks would, for various reasons, never go into the gym again - unlike the money from their bank accounts.

I make a point of using the gym facilities no fewer than 5 times a week, as the antithesis to the many dormant contributors!

kstanl

I was in Jackie Skelly's on Clarendon Street for the year of 2003 before it was done up. It was a kip at the time. Really poky and the shower rooms were rotten. I'm assuming that it's much better now that it's been done up though. Likewise, I noticed that the 'great last-minute deal' that I got when I joined up continued for about 3 months and then it actually got cheaper. Meaning I was ripped off completely. I now tell everyone I know to avoid the place like the plague. I wonder if Jackie Skelly thinks it's worth the PR :rolleyes:

andymad

I got ripped off by JS (like veryone else?)

My advice would be to find a reputable gym and stay away from those cowboys.

justsomebloke

man I know you may have gotten ripped off but how many threads do you need to bump to get your point across espially ones 2 years old

Lloyd Xmas

oxygen wrote: »

I went down there,while I was waiting for the tour I asked one receptionist how much was membership she said
= €65 joining fee and one payement of €600 or monthly installments of €65 (€780 ),I think for €180 I could scrape €600 together.
I then got the tour from the mngr (nice place) and at the end he said it cost
= €95 joining fee and one payement of €600 or monthly installments of €65
I told him the other girl said it was €65 and he said ok he would make it €65.

What a f*ckin con job, he was probably planning on pocketing the 30 odd quid extra himself. Disgraceful setup.

AARRRGH

I used to be a member of the Clarendon Street gym. It's a very nice gym.

I remember I told them I'm not paying a joining fee. They agreed to my request. I think their excuse was "you were a member a few years ago so you don't need to pay it again" but the point is they can waive the fee.

Red Alert

The Joining Fee appears to be commission for the salesperson as far as I can see. If they waive it it's their loss too maybe, but they're allowed to do it? It does seem odd that the price is variable depending on who you talk to - but again I'd say that's commission related. I have an upfront membership that I got for a very low price, so happy enough with Jackie Skelly.

Powerplate

Red Alert wrote: »

It does seem odd that the price is variable depending on who you talk to - but again I'd say that's commission related.

They have 2 commission targets - the first is for the team to sign up as many people as possible within the month, whereby if they collectively hit their target (e.g. 240 new members).

The second is to hit their financial target (total income for the month). This is best achieved by squeezing as much money out of a prospect as they possibly can. They will first try to close you with a big joining fee (e.g €150). When they don't get that, they will tell you something to the effect of "Well you've come in at the perfect time, because for the next 10 people, we are offering a half-price joining fee of €75 but you must sign up today".

Also, if they think you are loaded, they will try to squeeze whatever they think you will pay. This not only applies to the joining fee, but also the monthly direct debit fee, which they are locked into for 14 months (12 months plus 2 month's "notice" to cancel)

It doesn't exactly sit well with loyal, long-standing members who find out their friends, who they referred, have only had to pay half the joining fee that they did, together with a much lower monthly payment.